A Commentary on Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica V

The Posthomerica of Quintus of Smyrna is the only surviving Greek epic that gives a full narrative to the Trojan War between the Iliad and the Odyssey. Book V covers the contest between Ajax and Odysseus over the armour of Achilles, leading to Ajax’s madness, suicide and funeral. This is a full-length commentary on the book. It aims to give balanced treatment to matters of text, language, literary qualities and sources. The volume’s major areas of interest are: influence of the Homeric epics; Quintus’s use of later sources, the Trojan War in Greek and Latin literature; and Greek cultural history under the Roman Empire.